Something to See

SakuraRibbons: Hello!

Zidane: Prepare to die! (Flips off SakuraRibbons)

SakuraRibbons: What'd I do?

Zidane: Everything…

SakuraRibbons: Urgh! Yo momma!

Zidane: I have no mother.

SakuraRibbons: Good point. Ummm…on with the fic!

Note: Italics are thoughts. Bold italics are mini flashbacks.

Chapter Thirteen

Steiner's POV

The queen is going through so much. How I wish that I could help in some way… "Your Highness, we are back in Alexandria." The queen is sleeping in her chair. She wakes up and rubs her eyes.

"Thank you Steiner…" She gets up, stretches, and walks out of the ship. Once everyone gets out, we attempt to enter the castle, but an ear shattering scream stops everyone in their tracks. "KYAHHHHH!"

Beatrix? Was that her voice? Beatrix! "Your Highness! Who was that?" I ask.

"It was…Beatrix! Come on! We have to find her!" Garnet yells ushering us inside. The marble floor covered in blood. The knights of Pluto are fighting a group of…Iron Men?

One stomps up to Garnet. She can't summon anything because it would take to long and she can't beat him physically. I concentrate and unsheathe my Excalibur. "Shock!"

A bright light hits the monster and it falls to the ground, dead. "Let us make haste!" Freya exclaims, running up the stairs. A trail of blood leads us to the throne room. Inside…is Beatrix!

"Beatrix!" I yell running up to her. She's slumped over, blood dripping from her mouth. "Steiner…"

"Hush…save your strength…"

Eiko comes up to us and kneels down next to Beatrix. "Curaga…" The magic bounces right off her however. "Beatrix…what happened?"

The general opens her eyes slowly. "It's…Zid…ane…" My eyes widen.

"That monkey did this to you? Where is he?"

Beatrix closes her eyes. "He's…in…the room where that stone…was…" Her voice trails off and she looses consciousness.

"We must help Zidane! Eiko, can you please take care of Beatrix?" Garnet pleads, gripping her Whale Whisker tightly. The seven year old nods and proceeds to try more white magic.

The rest of us move through the dark corridors of the castle and search for Zidane. "Dagger, where is that room?" Freya asks.

Garnet points down the hall. "It's the room at the very end…" We reach it and I push it open slowly…

A horrifying sight greets us. Inside, there are two Alexandrian knights fighting…Ozma? One of the knights tries to slash at it but instead, gets knocked out when Firaga is cast on her.

Freya uses Dragon's Crest and leaps away before Ozma's magic hits her. How are monsters getting into the castle? The mist is gone and even though there is mist inside caves and forests…there is none inside the castle. Also…how come Ozma is here? I thought we killed him off for good.

The colorful sphere glows and explodes. Isn't the real thing. Just a weaker version or something. But, when it explodes, something else comes into view. Zidane…

Zidane's POV

Those fools. What are they thinking? I am going to kill them all! A black haired girl is looking right at me and screaming, "Zidane! I love you! Please! Please…don't hurt anyone else!" Foolish little girl.

"I do not know any one of you. One warning is enough. Now come at me if you must. Only death awaits you…" I say. Another person, fat and covered with rusty armor comes up to the girl. "Your Highness…what shall we do?"

She shakes her head furiously. "I don't know. We mustn't hurt him."

"Heh. You not planning on killing me is a good idea. You will die painlessly because of it…" I concentrate slowly and I feel my power increase. I start rising in the air. Ultima, Ultima, ULTIMA! Three souls merged with my own makes the Ultima spell even stronger.

As I feel myself reach the pinnacle of power, one voice surprises me.

"Zidane…please…"

It's the girl with the dark hair. She's on her knees, pleading. Tears are streaming down her face. "Don't hurt anyone else. You're…a good…person…"

"What are you talking about? I have no name. I am an Angel of death…" I say. I try to concentrate again but the girl keeps talking.

"Don't leave us…"

I look at her slowly. Then, in my mind, a voice just appears.

I don't want you to leave us again.

Leave…who again?

Don't leave us again okay?

I do not know any of you!

It's not all about you!

Me?

What a busy guy, coming and going all the time.

What? What is this?

I shall follow you to kingdom come if I must. You remember that!

Follow me…to kingdom come…?

You no can leave us!

I don't remember…

I can't believe you're doing this. You've changed Zidane.

Zidane?

And then…my own voice is in my head.

I can't accept your friendship so easily!

Friendship…

Memories start rushing back to me. "Dagger…" I spit out. She looks at me, surprised at first. "Zidane…"

The energy around me has reached its peak. And it explodes. Light streams from every direction in the room and hits Dagger. Dagger! I fall to the ground and get up quickly. Ultima. It's gonna kill her. Daggs…it's my fault…

But then…Dagger gets up, unscathed. "Dagger…" I say weakly.

She smiles slightly. "I think that light took the souls out of your body and tried transferring them to mine. My eidolons redirected them back to the original bodies though."

I look at her and wrap my arms around her. "Dagger. I'm…sorry…"

"It's alright Zidane…explain everything later…"

I nod and stand up straight. "Steiner…Freya…I'm sorry too…"

"It's not your fault Zidane…"

We take care of the injured soldiers and kill any remaining monsters. I distinctly remember using the mist from Gargan Roo to summon powerful monsters and a weaker version of Ozma. When everything is taken care of, Dagger sends two letters with Kupo to Amarant and Quina.

The Next Day

Dagger's POV

Our old party is back, excluding Vivi. Mikoto and Kuja are back to their old selves too. I was right. Their souls were returned. Poor Zidane's still sleeping. After everything last night, he just passed out.

"Your Highness?" It's Beatrix. "Beatrix? Are you sure you should be walking around?" Last night, Eiko managed to use a Cura on Beatrix. However, she was still hurt badly.

"I'm quite all right. Are you ready for your meeting?" Beatrix asks. I shake my head.

"I'm waiting for Zidane to get up…"

I hear footsteps behind me. "Dagger…" It's Zidane.

"Good morning Sir Zidane…" Beatrix says slowly. He goes up to her.

"Beatrix…I'm sorry about yesterday. I hope I didn't hurt you too much…" Zidane says, pushing his dirty blonde hair back.

She lightens up a bit and says it's okay. When she leaves, I turn to him. "Are you alright?" He smiles.

"Don't worry 'bout me Daggs." I put my hands on my hips. "But I do. You scared us all when you…errr…" I was about to say 'died' but…he didn't really die…

"Died? I never really did. Garland had said my…soul had just left my body…" Zidane says. He takes my hand. "C'mon. Everyone's waitin'!"

We rush downstairs and freeze when we see what's going on. There's an oglop on top of a…chocobo… (A/N: That is not supposed to sound wrong!)

"Dagger! Zidane! Mother and Father are back!" Eiko runs up to us and grins. "They're back!"

I go up to the couple. "Where have you been all this time?" I ask. "And why…no disrespect…but why are you both animals?"

The chocobo, my aunt Hilda, sighs. "Well, the thing is that a sinister man came up to us one day. We were in town, you see. He said something about Eiko being in danger. Cid and I were about to go to the castle but the man suddenly transported us to a strange place."

The oglop, my uncle, finishes. "He said it was the desert palace or something. He told us to stay put. Today we were released and sent here. Then, Eiko saw us, got mad, and turned us into animals…"

I turn to the purple haired girl. "Aunt Hilda taught you?" She nods.

"It'll wear off soon though," Eiko explains. She looks at Zidane. "You're back to normal?"

"Heh…yeah," Zidane says eying the oglop. "That man must've been Garland. Wonder why he abducted you guys though…"

I take his arm. "C'mon, everyone else is waiting!" I mock while dragging him and the rest to the edge of the lake. Amarant, Quina, Steiner, Beatrix, Kuja, Freya, and Mikoto are all waiting for us.

Everyone piles around Zidane. "I can't believe you're alive," Amarant says.

"I tell you before, I make you frog. If you die, me can no make frog for you," Quina adds.

Zidane laughs. "Thanks you guys…"

Kuja goes up to his brother and gestures to Mikoto to do the same. "Zidane…we realized that no one here is gonna die soon. Before Garland's soul and ours were mixed together, he said none of us would die," Mikoto says.

"T-that's great!" Eiko exclaims, running up and hugging Zidane's legs, unable to contain her excitement any longer.

Zidane pries Eiko off gently. "What about Garland's soul?" he asks.

"It disappeared…gone for good…"

We spend the rest of the morning filling Zidane in on the news when he was gone. Finally, we tell him about…Vivi.

When he hears, he sprints back into the castle and up to Vivi's room.

I follow him, telling everyone to wait where they are. I go up to the genome. "Zidane…"

"He's gone. Dammit…Vivi…" I look at his face and I can see tears. Actual tears, on Zidane's face.

"Zidane…"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

We have a small funeral for Vivi, in the Black Mage Village. Everyone says a few words on his behalf.

"He was a loyal friend and would have made a Knight of Pluto look weak…"

"Vivi was the quiet one in our group, but the most honest…"

"We met him on a stage, during a play. He's stuck his neck out for us and we'll never forget him…"

Eiko goes up last, tears running down her cheeks. "I liked him a-a lot b-because he c-cared a-about me…" She lays a flower on the grave and buries her face in her hands.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

We all return to Alexandria castle. The black mages told us we could stay the night. But…everyone felt that in their hearts, it'd be a hard night. Mikoto stayed behind though. She lives there now.

I sit on a chair on the balcony of my room. Everything has come and gone so quickly. Now what will be tossed at our group next? I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Hi Zidane…"

"Hey. What's up?" I shake my head. "Nothing…"

"Everyone's gone. Eiko has gone back to Lindblum. Kuja, Amarant, and Freya are heading toward Burmecia, Quina is in the marshes by now, and Mikoto is in the Black Mage Village," he says.

"Don't remind me. I still want to see all of them again…"

"They're not gone forever Daggs, we can always see them."

I nod. "I know. Still…is this the end?"

"We'll never know. Anything can happen," Zidane replies.

"Zidane," I say looking into his sparkling blue eyes. "I want to believe that peace will reign on forever."

He smiles and strokes my hair. "Even if it doesn't, we'll all do our best to protect the future." I look at him and smile back.

"Yes. We'll all fight our hardest," I say as we kiss right when the sun sets, the golden light sweeping the whole kingdom of Alexandria.

The End

Author's Note

It's finally over. I was gonna put in an epilogue, but, I think I'll leave things be. Everything was very smooth and my epilogue would foul it up! Sorry if I rushed the ending! Hope it's good anyway. Thanks to all my reviewers like Ashley Jo, Cody the Impaler, Tabansi232, freeform92, lyokowarriorboy2006, Yuffie-Babe, and JusticeEz8Zero!

My next FF9 story? Alexandrian Idol is a small project I'm working on. I also have an SI that I plan on making! For now, I'm taking a break from FF9 and using my time to finish my other fic. (For Fruits Basket fans, you may like the story I'm writing, Rat in the Hat.) I have a dedication! To my friends at ITMS! (My school!) By the way, I moved, so…sorry about the updating thing and my e-mail address has changed! (Might not have received some PM's!) Thanks for reading and goodbye!